Commentary

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is rapidly becoming one of the most visible and durable megatrends in the financial community. ESG, or sustainability, refers to corporate activities that

As we get closer to the presidential inauguration, and with President-elect Biden’s announcement of his Cabinet picks for the Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of the Interior (Interior), we begin the inevitable hypothesizing about which “Day 1 actions” will be taken, which actions will be among the administration’s “100 […]

Latin America’s largest economy was already in a fragile state when the global pandemic added to its list of woes. However, despite being hit by a wave of corporate bankruptcies and soaring government debt, Brazil’s economy is predicted to shrink by only 5-6% in 2020, somewhat less of a contraction than many other economies expect. […]

Companies in the energy sector this past year faced unprecedented financial, economic and operational challenges, exacerbated by a once-in-a-century public health crisis. Falling energy prices, coupled with the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, caused a significant labor contraction in the energy sector. The spread of COVID-19 required companies, including those involved in power […]

When the World Health Organization published news on Jan. 5, 2020, about cases of “pneumonia of unknown etiology” detected in Wuhan City, China, few people began stocking up on toilet paper or canceled

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in September issued Order 2222, a final rule to remove barriers for distributed energy resource (DER) aggregators to participate in the wholesale capacity

The last few months have seen the power sector plagued with enduring lower power prices, exacerbating the continued negative impact on power generation companies and electric utilities. There are a number of

Harold E. “Ed” Patricoff and Ana Sarmento The global trend toward renewable energy is undeniable and commendable. In 2018, 10Power announced that it would work to create commercial-scale solar and energy

Engineering empowers society in so many unprecedented ways, and with innovation at its core, the profession recognizes reaching its full potential requires the inclusivity of all segments of society. Two years

By Brad Handler and Morgan Bazilian Nearly 75%  of electricity generated from coal in the U.S. could be produced more cheaply with renewables, strengthening the environmental arguments to accelerate the retirement of coal plants. Yet such transitions to renewable sources have to factor in the costs—incremental, stranded and most pressingly, societal—of shutting down existing plants, […]

By Aurelien Guichard Manager, Arthur D. Little As we near the close of 2020, companies are under greater pressure to source more energy flexibility to ensure security of supply as renewables and other “green” alternatives shift the energy mix. From board rooms to investors to social media, the decisions companies are making and the approaches […]

By Bud Earley and Mark Perlis, Covington & Burling LLP The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 17, 2020, approved a final rule that will enable distributed energy resource aggregators to compete in organized wholesale electricity markets.  Distributed energy resources (DERs) are located on the electric  distribution system or behind the customer meter and […]

The tension between state and federal lawmakers is ages old, with a history marked by periods of outright assault or relative peace. On Dec. 19, 2019, the quiet in the energy sector was broken by an order from

For nearly a century, the grid has been one, solid, hulking, inflexible machine. Now, with the rise of technologies like microgrids, distributed renewables, battery storage, and vehicle-to-grid applications, we can reimagine the grids that enclose our communities to be like those fictional spaceships.

President Trump on May 1, 2020, issued Executive Order (EO) 13920, titled “Securing the United States Bulk-Power System.” Trump said that the unrestricted foreign supply of certain electric equipment

Asia now accounts for the most growth in renewable electricity generation, at a whopping 40% of the global production, while Europe and North America are each at 20%, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Particularly, solar power was at its peak at the start of 2020, with a record-breaking first quarter in the […]

The electric power sector in the United States has a long history of facing threats to our infrastructure—whether they are natural or man‐made. While cyberthreats are indeed much more complex, particularly when you consider that some of our cyber adversaries are nation states, the industry has a strong foundation of preparedness, resilience, and response. Though […]

The Texas power market made headlines in August 2019 when wholesale prices for electricity repeatedly spiked close to and even hit the $9,000-per-megawatt-hour (MWh) cap. This August, average hourly prices peaked at “just” $1,700 per MWh, the afternoon of Aug. 15. There were many reasons for the reduced price volatility in Texas this year. First, […]

California needs more reliable electricity. The ongoing rolling blackouts in the Golden State will likely become more frequent unless its elected leaders change their foolish energy policies. More importantly, California’s energy posture reveals some harsh lessons for the rest of America, as it provides a glimpse into the future of power generation should the Democrats […]

When the pandemic hit New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo began holding daily media briefings to provide updates and reassurances—and most days, he would challenge New Yorkers to learn the lessons of this

Late last week, to manage a potential large-scale power outage driven by triple-digit temperatures, the California Independent Service Operator (CAISO) called on utilities to implement rolling outages across the California grid. The shutdown of three natural gas power plants and a significant decline in available wind power were cited as the primary reasons behind the […]

In the absence of a comprehensive federal renewable energy policy, many states have established regulatory frameworks that incentivize or require utilities to purchase or develop a percentage of renewable

While the nation is rightfully consumed with responding to the COVID-19 crisis, other battles are being fought that also will have decades-long consequences. One of those involves states seeking to override

In 2012, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were drafted at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which was held in Brazil. The goals were adopted by all the United Nations member countries in 2015. They replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which started in 2000 to tackle the challenge of extreme poverty across the world. […]

Hybrid power plants, also known as solar plus storage or wind plus storage projects, have gained significant traction in recent years. These projects combine solar energy or wind energy with battery energy storage. The result is a somewhat dispatchable renewable energy power plant, which can provide smoother (less-volatile) energy, and can shift time of delivery […]

Dear utility managers and workers, We’ve met some of you over the years, and as our employees have been sheltering in place with lights, internet, televisions, and many other modern comforts, we wanted to say thank you. Too often, energy providers only receive attention when something goes wrong. Because utilities in the U.S. are 99% […]

After Superstorm Sandy pummeled the great State of New Jersey in 2012, more than two million households were without power, many for close to two weeks. A silver lining is that this disaster occurred in the fall, after the heat of summer and before the onset of freezing conditions. With Sandy, New Jersey and the […]

It is human nature to avoid spending money on preparations for an event that may never happen. However, as we all continue to adapt to a COVID-19 world, there is a new awareness of low probability, high impact events. If the consequences of a statistically unlikely event are devastating to the economy, the survival of […]

The regulatory landscape for the energy industry has changed significantly in the past few decades, but a century-old Supreme Court canon—the filed rate doctrine—continues to be a valuable tool for

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is not the type of thing enterprise technologists could see in our magic crystal ball. Before the onset of the virus and its effects, I set out three predictions for the energy, utilities, and resources sector for the coming year—but of course, a global shutdown of business, transport, and […]